Broker proposes solution for last-minute deal killers

A united voice is needed to bring about change within the lenders, one broker argues, especially when it comes to last-minute requests that can result in lost deals.

“Brokers often have problems with lenders and we don’t have the strength as individuals to deal with these issues and bring about change,” John Gimblett of RMA Mortgage told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “If a national association used its resources to implement an individual as an ombudsman they could collect broker complaints about lenders and present them on behalf of those brokers.

“It would give these problems a lot more merit and draw a lot more attention.”

Gimblett’s suggestion follows a MortgageBrokerNews.ca story about the growing number of files being sent back by lenders with demands for additional information with too little time to meet closing.

Lenders are sometimes informing brokers of issues with files after it’s too late, one industry player told MortgageBrokerNews.ca last week.

According to Ross Taylor of Mortgage Intelligence, a lender informed him on the day the property was meant to close that the client’s lawyer was on their “do not work with” list. Taylor was tasked with finding a new lawyer to sign off on the deal, but it was too late – the client chose to work with another mortgage provider as a result.

And since then, a number of brokers have also taken to the MortgageBrokerNews.ca forum to share their experiences.

For his part, Gimblett argues the issues will continue unless the matter is addressed on an industry-wide level.

“When a broker complains to a BDM it could be viewed as sour grapes, but if an ombudsman were to present a number of similar complaints from a number of individual brokers, lenders would take these complaints more seriously,” he said.